All the latest developments from the war in Ukraine.
Moscow threatens to confiscate European assets in Russia
ADVERTISEMENTA leading official in Russia has warned his country will seize assets belonging to European Union states if the bloc “steals” frozen Russian funds.
On Friday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Brussels was working on a proposal to use confiscated Russian money to help rebuild Ukraine.
Writing on Telegram, Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house, called the EU plans “a theft of our country’s frozen assets to continue militarising Kyiv.”
“Confiscated assets belonging to unfriendly countries will be much larger than our frozen resources in Europe,” he said, suggesting the EU had more to lose.
European Union leaders have supported a proposal to use billions of euros in windfall taxes from Russian assets tied up in the West to rebuild Ukraine.
The assets have been frozen since February 2022 when the West introduced a raft of sanctions to cripple Russia’s ability to finance the war against Ukraine, most notably by blocking the Central Bank’s access to its foreign-exchange reserves.
These deposits are worth €211 billion across EU territory, with over €180 billion reportedly held by Euroclear, a Brussels-based financial services company.
West seeking to expand Ukraine war to Asia, claims Russian defence minister
Sergei Shoigu has accused Washington of wanting to create instability in Asia while speaking at the Xiangshan Forum, China’s biggest military diplomacy event.
“After provoking an acute crisis in Europe, the West is trying to extend the crisis potential to the Asia-Pacific,” the Russian defence minister was quoted as saying by state media.
He said NATO was building up its forces in the region, increasing the scale of its military drills and driving an arms race.
“The West’s posture towards Russia poses the risk of a direct conflict between nuclear powers, which would have catastrophic consequences,” said Shoigu.
He also accused Washington of trying to use climate change and natural disasters as an excuse for “humanitarian interventions”.
Shoigu added Moscow was ready for talks on the post-conflict settlement of the Ukraine war and ‘co-existence’ with the West, but Western countries needed to stop seeking Russia’s strategic defeat.
Flurry of Ukrainian drones downed by Russia
Russian air defences intercepted 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula overnight Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday.
Local authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region bordering the Black Sea said a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the early hours of Sunday, but did not say the cause.
“The reasons for the incident are being established,” a statement from local authorities said, amid claims in local media outlets it was caused by a drone.
Drone strikes and shelling on the Russian border regions and Moscow-annexed Crimea are a regular occurrence. Ukrainian officials never acknowledge responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or the Crimean peninsula.
In Ukraine, the country’s air force said Sunday it had shot down five Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones launched by Russia overnight.
ADVERTISEMENTBar some exceptions, most strikes by Kyiv almost always cause no casualties or damage and are often intercepted by Russian air defences. So what then is the purpose of Ukraine’s drone war against Russia? Read more on this story below.
Thousands of Ukrainians run to commemorate those killed in war
Around 2,000 Ukrainians ran a one-kilometre race on Sunday in Kyiv, wearing bibs displaying the name of a person instead of a number.
Each runner chose one person to whom they dedicated their run. Spouses, children, friends, siblings, neighbours, and colleagues ran for someone they knew who either was killed, taken captive or injured during Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
The crowd cheered the runners, and many in the audience wept while waiting for participants at the finish line. Amid the lively backdrop of Ukrainian songs, joy and sorrow intermingled in the air as life carried on despite the war.
The organisers of the run called it the “World’s Longest Marathon” — “because no race has lasted as long as Ukraine has been fighting for its freedom.”
ADVERTISEMENTAround 13,000 people across the world registered for the event. Those competing remotely could run any distance they wanted and were encouraged to post about it on social media.
Volodymyr Rutkovskyi, a 31-year-old veteran, completed the course walking. In mid-June, he sustained a severe injury when a Russian projectile struck his right leg during Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia region.
After months of rehabilitation, he now uses a prosthetic limb and participated in the event to pay tribute to two fallen comrades, Zheka and Tykhyi, who were killed in eastern Ukraine.
“They did a lot for our country, and sadly, they could have done much more if they were alive,” he said. “But their struggle continues. We will do everything for them and in their honour.”
